Design generation



79 3929, W. Q. Hmmm DESIGN GENERATION Filed April 50, 1923 3Sheets-Sheet WIT/VESSEL? A TTOR/VEVS W. Q, HADLEY DESIGN GENERATION May79 W29@ Filed April so, 1923 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Bv l A WOR/VE VS My 79 W.C. HALEY A DESIGN GENERATION A Filed April 30, 1925 3 Sheets-Shee 5Patented May 7, 1929.

UNITED STATES i WALTER C. HADLEY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.,

ASSIGNOR TO AMERICAN PRINTING COM- PANY, OF FALL RIVER, MASSACHUSETTS, ACORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

DESIGN GENERATION.

Application led April 30, 1923. Serial No. 635,689.

The present invention relates broadly to that 'class of opticalinstruments known as kaleidoscopes, and more particularly aims toprovide an improved apparatus, useful in textile designing particularly,whereby various units of a design may be produced not only assuggestions for designs to be 'practically adopted, but whereby designsmay be generated exactly as they will finally appear, except possiblyfor variations of color scheme, and may be preserved in what may betermed a design unit library for an indenite time Without having torender the apparatus idle or to wholly or even partially dismantle saidapparatus until such time as said design element is transcribed byphotography, an artists pencil or otherwise, to a parchment or otherrecord sheet capable of preservation.

rihe below discussion of the state of the prior art, as I am acquaintedwith it, and of the features of the present invention broadlydistinguishing it from such prior art, together with the variousadvantages and objects of the present invention to vbe preliminarilydiscussed, will all be best understood if at this point a shortdescription of the various figures of the drawings be interpolated.

lin such drawings, which of course show, merely illustratively, one ofthe various possible embodiments of my new apparatus, designedparticularly to facilitate carrying out the method also provided by myinvention,

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of said embodiment;

Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section, taken on line 2 2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view;

Fig. 4t is an enlarged perspective view of one of the instantaneouslybodily removable kaleidoscope units; Y

Fig. 5 shows a design actually heretofore i generated, and illustratesone example of the class of designs adapted to be generated by thefour-reflector-type unit of Fig. 4, that is to say, designs in which therepeat elements are squares;

Fig. 6 is an end elevation of another type of such kaleidoscope unit,but one having three mirrors or prisms instead of the four mirrors orprisms of Fig. 4;

Fig. 7 is an end elevation of another type of unit similar to Fig. t buthaving its four mirrors or prisms conforming in cross section to anelongate rectangle; the unit of Fig. 7 is adapted to generate a designof which the repeat elements are quadrangular, as 1n Fig. 5, but havingthe particularly unique and important characteristic that the designgenerated has been discovered to be most prolific of stripe effects,with the stripe components generally running transverse to thetleigth ofthe elongaterepeat element genera e Fig. 8 is an end elevation ofanother type of unit, this unit being adapted to generate a design ofwhich the repeat elements are equilateral triangles, also having aparticularly unique and import-ant characteristic as to the designgenerated, giving for the first time 1n this art, the type of designtechnically called step one-half at the head;.

Fig. 9 is an end elevation of another type of unit, this unit beingadapted to generate a design of which the repeat elements are regularpentagons; and Fig. 10 is an end elevation of still another type ofunit, this unit being adapted to generate a design of which the repeatelements are regular heXagons.

Fig. l1 illustrates the mother sheet from 50 which the design of Fig. 5could be generated.

it will of course be understood that each of the kaleidoscopes disclosedin Figs. 4, and 6 to' l() inclusive, consists of a plurality of mirrors,the cross section of the mirrors of S5 each kaleidoscope varying inaccordance with the cross section of the several apertures 20 (see Figs.6 to 10 inclusive).

Referring now preliminarily to the main features of the apparatus of thedrawings, it is seen that a lamp-house is indicated at 11, a shelf-likesupport is at 36 for supporting the lower end of a vertically disposedremovable kaleidoscope unit 1li and also for supporting a lens 15, and aplurality of selectively individually utilizable projected'image-receiving surfaces each carried at the top of one of a pluralityof vertically spaced horizontal shelves 16 near the bottom of thegeneral vertical structure typical of the invention. The term verticalas herein employed is used in the' approximate sense only, but with theidea of sharply defining the invention, in certain of its aspects, fromhorizontal projection-beam machines of the prior art.

For reasons which will appear hereinafter, such shelves will be hereinreferred to as the tester'screens. l

la eenneetion with unit 14, as one like any 110 of those in Figs. 6 tol() or one otherwise constructed for reflecting design components togive even further different repeat elements for a design, there isfurther provided, by the present invention, an upper end structure 17for the unit, here a square platform as shown in said Figs. 6 to l0, butpreferably comprising an offset web of some suitable shape such that anauxiliary device, here a spring-clamp 18 of a long-known type in thestationery art, may be used to clamp in position a translucent sheet 19(Fig. 2) of a fiexible nature For reasons which will appear hereinafter,said sheet 19 (Fig. 2) will be referred to as the design-generatinginstrumentality7 or, more briefly, as the mother sheet.

The mother sheet 19 (Fig. 2) is more clearly shown in Fig. 1l, whereinthe area indicated by the small square in the lower right hand corner ofFig. l1 is intended to be used in conj unetion with a kaleidoscope tubehaving a square cross section (as shown in Fig. 4) to generate thedesign shown in Fig. 5. I am well aware that my invention, so far as thesame broadly utilizes a kaleidoscope component, is one of a numerousclass of previously proposed machines all such machines having theadvantage that a great variety of combinations of designs may beobtained. These figures, although to a certain extent predetermined, arewidely variable at will, yet very often of a fortuitous character inthat the finally selected design is a slight deliberate variation of themain features of a design accidentally or empirically obtained.

I am also well aware that previous designgenerating machines of the kindabove indicated have been of the projecting type, that is to say, haveincluded illuminating means for projecting an enlarged image of thedesign generated kaleidoscopically as above.

A very important object of the invention is to provide adesign-generating apparatus of the type just characterized, but acomparatively inexpensive apparatus having none of the well-knowndefects of even thelmost costly of previous similar machines of theprojection type. Of such well-known defects, probably the most importantones are the prohibitive expense of installing and operating such amachine, except possibly for the very largest textile mills, and thefact that once a satisfactory design is generated by the machine, thelatter cannot be used again for the generation of another design untilthe repeat element of the first design is transcribed to a record sheetas above. The last-mentioned disadvantage prevails even in a very widelyadopted foreign machine despite the fact that the latter has interposedin the pat-h of its horizontal projection beam, a drum rotating on ahorizontal axis eccentric to the center line of the beam and carrying aplurality of kaleidoscope units of different mirror or prismcombinations and arranged parallel to each other and parallel to theaxis of the drum and spaced around a circle concentric With the drumaxis, whereby the drum may be fractionally rotated to set onekaleidoscope or another in design-generating position relative to thelight source creating the projection beam.

A further object of the invention is to pro- Vide a design-creatingapparatus as aforesaid, and one particularly of a nature which may beconstructed at a comparatively low expense also as aforesaid, and yetone wherein, as already indicated by the above reference to the mainstructural features of the drawing, the projection beam will beessentially vertical, as contradistinguished from the horizontal beam ofthe machine last described.

A further object is to provide a machine incidentally having the furtheradvantage that the same may be continuously used, although during suchperiod of continuous use incorporating only a single kaleidoscope, tocreate in quick succession a multiplicity of different designs each ofwhich may be permanently preserved for transcription subsequently intopermanent complete-design records, at leis ure.

A further object is to provide a machine as above having the additionaladvantage that there is no need to incorporate a reflecting mirror, withall the familiar defects of the latter as to light losses and light-raydistortions, even to attain the result of always projecting thetentative design-images on a receiving screen located for convenient andsatisfactory study of a multiplicity of such tentative designs during aprolonged session at the machine. It will probably at this point beunderstood, and certainly from what follows, that the importantelimination of the reflecting mirror as last referred to, is one of theadvantages naturally following my proposal to use a kaleidoscope-typedesignprojection machine wherein the light-beam is vertical rather thanhorizontal throughout its length.

A further object is to provide in such a vertical type apparatus, acombination of parts such that the single kaleidoscope element,hereinafter termed the tube, is one of a plurality of rotatable yetreplaceable kaleidoscope units, one of which may be used, immediatelyupon removal from the apparatus, for making a truly instantaneous yetpermanent record of the design registered by it a second before when inthe machine, while another of said tubes is being used to discoveranother and a different design; thus not tying up the machine for longperiods between the registering of each two acceptable designs, as wouldbe the case Where the machine itself comprised a receiving screenaffording the only means of permanently recording a registered design byway of phoeffort.

tographically or otherwise copying the design image on the screen.Indeed, the present machine is not tied up at all, between the taking ofsuccessive designs, especially since an important feature of theinvention is ,the provision of means whereby each kaleidoscope tube issupported operatively by the machine (rotatably if desired) fordesigncreation solely by gravity. An essential feature of the presentinvention in this regard, further, is that any particular designregistered is not intended to be copied immediately by the artistspencil, or by some automatic recording means, as a camera, and, also,the permanent recording of any design of the present machine is in anyevent made not from the optical image of the design, but from the designitself. c

To facilitate the attaining of the objects aforesaid, i in acommercially practicable manner, the apparatus of the present inventionhas further characteristics, as brought outimmediately below. y

The new machine of the present invention, as will have been seen fromthe above short description of the drawings and preliminary reference tosome of the essential elements of the illustrative apparatus of theinvention, comprises a kaleidoscope projection machine wherein thelamp-house, by which is meant the housing or support for a source ofillumination and desirably also for the condensers, is the uppermostelement of a generally vertical structure,.for directing the projectionbeam downwardly; wherein the lowermost element is a substantiallyhorizontally-arranged image-receiving surface or tester screen 16, andwherein an intermediate element is a shelf 12 or the like having partsco-acting with parts on the various kaleidoscope tubes whereby one tubemay be instantaneously substituted for another and thereupon beimmediately effective, as the result of rotating the same if desired,relative to said shelf and also relativevto the lens 15 preferably alsocarried by the shelf, for use in what may be termed design-searching.

The new apparatus satisfies another object of the invention by takingadvantage of its characteristic verticalY structure, to provide anexceedingly simple, yet valuable means for further checking up andappraising the aesthetic value of any design generated, and ata minimumcost of time and This results from the provision of not merely one, buta plurality 'of these tester-screens 16 below the lens, in such a waythat each is adapted to be instantaneously substituted for another whendesired, as by constructing said screens as slidable, individuallyremovable shelves. Thus, assuming'that two shelves 16 are provided, the'lowermost one may be set to show the ornamental effect of a design ofwhich the component configurations may be examined on a rather largescale, and the uppermost one may be set to give the same ornamentaleffect but on a reduced scale and with a corresponding increase ofdefinition. According as the search is for a design for say a textilefabric to have a large figured design, or is for a design for such afabric to have a small figured design, the higher or lower shelf isemployed first in general searching, and the other shelf is subsequentlyused for a more detailed and critical analysis of the design beforefinal selection. The manner of making the proper focal changes in thelens, as one shelf is substituted for another, may obviously beperformed with that celerity requisite to maintain the general speed ofsearching for and selecting a series of acceptable designs,characteristic of the present invention.

The invention has the further object of providing means, preferablyassociated with each individually and instantaneously removablekaleidoscope tube 14, and preferably a means involving a minimum ofstructure' for the tube and including merely a single auxiliary deviceof practically inconsequential cost and already on the market for otherpurposes (as the spring-clip 18)-for permitting easy, absolutelyaccurate and dependable fixation on tube 14. of what has been termed thedesign-generating instrumentality or mot-her sheet 19. By such termmother sheet as hereinafter generally employed, is meant a strip orsheet-like member of translucent or transparent material having markingsthereon such that shifting the member in its own plane and across theupper end of a tube 14 temporarily in the new machine, results in thegeneration of a succession of designs on the particular tester screen16, at any time in position to receive the projected design image. Andhere'results a further improved advantage of the invention, and one inwhich the vertical type machine characteristic thereof is deliberatelyprovided in order to satisfy' an object having such advantage in mind.This advantage is the fact that the mother sheet 19, while according tothe invention preferably supported merely by gravity on the upper endstructure of the tube 14, and to be shifted over such structure as justdescribed, either by rotation, translation, or a combination of bothsuch movements, nevertheless need not be a sheet-like member of amaterial having inherent stiffness, as paper, parchment, glass,Celluloid, etc., but may be instead of flimsy and fioppy materia as aclipping of a textile fabric of any printed or other opticallyprojectable design. As a result, one textile design, say one generated,test-ed and found acceptable by the previous use of the apparatus ofthepresent invention, may be used, as to some or all of its componentconfigurations',`to generate by way of the same machine a multiplicityof strikingly dissimilar designs for other textile fabrics; and aclipping from each of these latter may be used similarly in the samemachine, and so on, ad infinitum.

The above-mentioned fixation means for a mother sheet 19 on a tube 14 ofthe present machine, when designed to have the advantages noted above inconnection with the invention, preferably comprises in its entiretymerely a) any fioor-like structure or similar platforni (as the platform17) preferably permanently carried by the end of each tube 14 which isuppermost when the tube is set upright in the machine, (7)) a polygonalopening (as indicated at 20 in the caseof the tube of Fig. 7), cut insaid platform such that the sides of the same surround precisely theexact portion of the mother sheet 19 the image of which portion at anyinstant is being projected by way of said tube onto the tester screenthen effective in the machine, and (c) a preferably wholly removablepreferably frictionally effective, auxiliary device for clamping a partof the mother sheet to a part of the platform beyond `said polygonalopening, so that while thereafter said instrumentality, due to itsflexible or flimsy nature, may be disturbed in position, it may alwaysbe restored to proper position on the platform when stretched relativeto the grip of say one of the spring clips 18 of Fig. 2, either of whichhas been found completely satisfactory as an embodiment of saidauxiliary device.

By means of the features foregoing, the invention further provides a newand valuable means, or rather a method, whereby said portion of themother sheet 19 surrounded by the polygonal opening, and constituting arepeat element of an acceptable design generated, may be permanently yetinstantaneously inscribed, as with an ordinary pencil in unskilledhands, with a valuable indicium. Such method merely involves the stepsof stretching taut the mother sheet as above, then pressing a pencilpoint on the upper surface of the sheet and against a point on an edgeof said polygonal opening and then advancing the pencil Tnt against thesheet and along all the bounding edges of the polygonal opening.Consequently, immediately after the'making of such a polygonalinscription on the sheet the same may be removed from its tube 14 andstored away in a design-repeatmnit library. and said tube may beimmediately returned -to the machine for the projection of anotherdesign. And, since the inscription of said indicium on the just-removedmother sheet has been actually found not to be projectable except mostinconspicuously, this very same rsheet may be used again and again inthe machine for the projection of another or other designs, before beingsent to such library.

The invention has various other objects, as will be seen later; thesenot only having to do with the method aspect of the invention, but alsohaving to do with the new apparatus provided. In the latter connection,for ex ample, the invention aims to provide a designgenerating apparatusas aforesaid, and one which is not only of very inexpensiveeonstruction, as above, but further is adapted to be collapsed and, whencollapsed, set up very easily and quickly and Without the use of specialtools, or, indeed, any tools at all an apparatus also, which is verylight in total weight and is collapsible into a very small bulk, tofacilitate transportation, particularly transportation from one part ofa building to another, as from the design-searching depart-ment to theoffice of a general executive.

Referring now more in detail to the apparatus of the drawings, thegeneral vertical type structure provided includes a main standard 21,desirably a length of wooden planking cut to provide a lower mainportion with upwardly converging offset sides, such portion beingdesignated at 2l in Fig. 1 and to provide a reduced upper portion marked21 in Fig. 1 and having' parallel sides. This standard 2l at the upperend of its said portion 21 carries a pair of vertical wooden strips 22constituting rails for opposite sides of a slide board 23 supportinglamp-house 11. This lamp-house 11 is preferably of a wellknown typealready on the market, as shown, and is made of light sheet metal andincludes a pair of mounting leg extensions 25 having offset feet (shownonly imperfectly in Fig. 3 of the drawings) by which the lamp-house isscrewed or otherwise anchored on slide board 23. As shown best in Fig.3, and as indicated in broken lines in Fig. 2, each rail 22 carries aclamp-screw 26 ofthe Wingnut-headed type which maybe tightened up toclamp board 23 and hence lamp-house 11 at various elevations above thatshown in Fig. 2. It will be noted that with slide board 23 at saidelevation shown in Fig. 2, the bottom edge of the slide board falls ustshort of touching a crossblock 27, and that about the lower` third ofthe slide board is pocketed between about the lower halves of rails 22,said cross-block 27 and a cover board 28 nailed or otherwise secured tothe block and the rails. The lamphouse further includes, as shown bestin Fig. 2, a lamp 29 of the electric-bulb type, a pair of condensers 30,and, below the condensers, slide guides 31.

Said standard 21 further forms a part of a combined stand and cabinet,other parts of which stand and cabinet are as follows: The front face oflower portion 21 of standard 21 carries along opposite side edges offsetpanels 32 and 33 (Figs. 2 and 3), of which the panel 33 is wider thanthe panel 32. Said combined stand and cabinet also includes a pair ofside wing or wall members 34, hinged as indicated at 35 to said panels.And said combined stand and cabinet further includes a bodily removableplatform 36 adapted to be set by gravity on the uppermost pair of ledges37 carried by wings 34. Then, when the wings are spread as illustratedin the drawings, and platform 36 is set on the uppermost ledges 37, anda pair of pivoted frictionclamps 38 are swung as best shown in Fig. 1,said combined stand and cabinet is impositively yet reliably locked intoform.

Platform 36, being provided with a circular opening as marked at 39 inFig. 2, and having formed in its upper face concentric with said openinga circular recess 40 shown best in said Fig. 2, serves as the means forsupporting the kaleidoscope tube 14 resting thereon solely by gravity.It will be noted that each tube 14 at its lower end (compare Figs. 6 to10) preferably permanently carries a disk 41 to lit in recess 40;whereby the tube may be rotated by hand on platform 36 but always withits axis in line with the axis of lens 15 therebelow. l

Said platform 36, further, carries a means for suspending said lens insuch a way that while the lens may be readily adjusted for focus, thesame, together with its mounting slide-plate 42, may be instantaneouslybodily removed from the machine. llt will be understood that by the termlens as hereinabove used may be meant the two telescoping tubes shown inFigs. 1 and 2 as Well as the lens proper (not shown) fixed in one of thetubes. rl`he parts carried by the uppermost platform 36 for thussuspending the lens 15 include a pair of wood blocks 43 nailed orotherwise secured to the bottom of the platform, and a pair of similarblocks 44 nailed to blocks 43, and arranged as shownbest in Fig. 1,thereby to provide two L-shaped tracks for guiding plate 42 andsuspending the lens by gravity by way of said plate. A stop-block 45 isprovided on the bottomof platform 36 between rail blocks 43,`as shown.

rl'he pairs of ledges 37 on Wings 3 4, below that pair of said ledgessupporting platform 36 as just described, carry the horizontal shelves16 the upper surfaces of which are suitably' colored and may carry whiteor tinted paper covers 16a for showing up as desired an image of thedesign generated when such image is projected thereon. lnstead of suchtinted and preferably interchangeable 'paper or other suitable covers16a, it is obvious that the covers may be white and a collection oftranslucent members of diderent colors may be provided forinterchangeable interposition at a suitable point in the lightbeam, asfor checking up a design generated as affected by a desired dominant orgeneral back-ground color-factor. 0f course, in connection with suchscreens, the covers 16i1 need not necessarily be white.

1t will be seen from a comparison of Figs. 1, 2, 4 and 6 to 10 that eachkaleidoscope tube 14 includes what may be termed its main re'-,

flecting-chamber-barrel 46, consist-ing of a plurality of mirrorspositioned so as to provide a reflecting chamber indicated in crosssection by the several openings 20 (see Figs. 4, and 6 to 10 inclusive),a disk 41 as aforesaid at one end, and a structure at the other end, asthe square platform 17 aforesaid, i11- cluding essentially a web offsetfrom barrel 14. rll`his web is provided to permit the employment of aspring-clip 18, or the like, as already described, to frictionally clampa portion of the design-generating instrumentality or mother sheet 19,fixedly relative to the barrel 14, whenever an acceptable design, asthat shown in Fig. 5, of which design the duplicate repeat elements aremarked off by the light intersecting straight lines 5, is generated. Asthe parts are shown in Fig. 2, a pair of such clips 18 are shownclamping spaced points on a single mother sheet 19 to square platform 17on the top of tube 14 then now temporarily in the machine; but very,satisfactory results are obtained when only one such clip 18 is used.

Adverting to the slide-guides 31 carried at the bottom of the standardlamp-house 1l preferred to be used, these slide-guides may hereadvantageously be employed for mounting an endwisely movable slide 47havingl a plurality of openings (not shown), in column and havingtranslucentwindows or panes of different degrees of relative opacity sothat the slide member may be adjusted lengthwisely to give more or lessintensity of illumination to the projection beam from lamp 29.

'llhe apparatus has above been generally described in extended orworking position. 'llo collapse the machine, it is merely necessary,after removing the tube 14 then in the machine, after sliding out plate42 mounting lens 15, after loosening the screws 26 and removing slide 23with its lamp-house l1, after sliding out the shelves 16,-to release theclamps 38, lift platform 36 up and away, fold in the right-hand wall 34of Fig. 1 against standard 21, and then fold in the other wall 34. lnthis connection, examining Fig. 3, it' will be noted that panel 32 is ofa width about equal to the sum of the thicknesses of a wall 35 and aledge 37; and that panel 33 is of a width about equal to twice the widthof panel 32. As a result, the two walls 34 are folded in close to andparallel with standard 21.

Revel-ting to the tubes of Fig. 4 and Figs. 6 to 10, .there is of courseno limit to the number of such tubes of different mirror or (prismcombinations which may be furnished.

practically any mother sheet; and the second constituting means foralways creating what are known in the textile art as step onehalf at thehead designs, due to the reflecting chamber having a novelcross-section, that of an equilateral triangle, rather than of a scaleneor isosceles triangle as heretofore. The practical importance of beingalways able at will surely to generate a series of stripe-effectdesigns, is obvious, from what is known even to those unskilled in theart of' teXtile design; that is, as to the designs generated by the newtube of Fig. 7. As to the designs generated by the new tube of Fig. 8,it is pointed out that such designs are probably the most used of any inconnection with the making up of printed fabrics. The provision ofeither of such tubes is per se an important feature of the invention.

The method of design searching afforded by the present invention, andfacilitated by the apparatus above described, thus may be said broadlyto involve the downward direction 0f a projection beam, whileinter-posing a kaleidoscope unit in said beam so that a part of the beamtraverses said unit from end to end, focussing the beam on a testerscreen below the unit, and interposing in said beam and shifting thereina mother sheet substantially edgewise above the unit. Such sheet, thesheet 19 as above defined, is preferably supported solely by gravity onthe upper end of the unit, that is to say, without other attachment orsecurement than by gravity and gravity-created friction, to the end,further, that the mother sheet may be released at any instant to permitgravity to hold the sheet quiescent on the upper end of the unit. Aspecial feature of the present process, going back, however, to thefundamental concept of a projection beam extending away from a lightsource in a downward direction and at an angle more removed from thehorizontal than from the vertical, is the employment of a mother sheetof substantially no inherent stiffness, that is, a sheet which isflexible but practically non-elastic. Thus the i new method permits theuse of a mother sheet of practically any material, provided only thatthe mother sheet has some degree ef transluceney; and further obviatesthe necessity of providing in any apparatus designed to facilitate acarrying out of the method, guiding grooves, slide-ways or the like forco-acting with the mother sheet when shifted transverse to theprojection beam for design generation.

Further, the method provided by the present invention, preferablyinvolves the marking of an indicium on the mother sheet, such that saidindicium indicates a definite area ofthe mother sheet, with such areaabsolutely significant of the portion of the sheet to be hand-copiedlater to have such copy be a perfect repeat element of a previous andacceptable design generated by the method and found to be so acceptableby inspection of the projected image of a part of the mother sheet. Asalready explained, such indicium is preferably a polygonal outlineestablished as by a pencil-line mark on a face of the mother sheet. Itwill be readily understood that once a mother sheet has received such apolygonal indicium or equivalent marking, an indefinite time may elapsebefore such sheet is delivered to an artist with instructions to make ahand-'drawn copy of the repeat element of the design. Such instructionswill also advise him whether the copying of said element is to be on thesame `scale as on the sheet or on a different scale, and the desiredscale can be ascertained, for communication to him, very easily, byremounting the sheet on the tube which generated thedesign-repeat-element, and pursuant to the indication of said polygonalinscription or other marking aforesaid, and projecting the design imageon a tester screen 16 at the proper height to obtain a satisfactoryscale-if the ascertainment of such scale was not done at the same timethe design was first generated and found acceptable. And by a similarmethod of procedure, a previously developed and accepted design may beagain later projected to check up the recollection of its l.

aesthetic appeal when first developed. A further important point:Imagine that a duplicate collection of the inexpensive bodily removablekaleidoscope tubes is retained at the mill where an official is locatedwho is to pass finally on a design tentatively accepted at the mainoffices of the company in a distant city. The mother sheet with itspencilmarked or otherwise located design-creating area indicatedaccording to the invention, has only to be mailed to the mill, fortemporary attachment properly to the appropriate tube, and a glancethrough the tube, held to the eye and directed toward the light, is allthat is required for the final judgment of said official.

The method also preferably involves the temporary securement of themother sheet to the kaleidoscope unit then forming with said sheet apair of optical interponents, whereby said unit and sheet may be removedfrom the machine and-instantaneously rcstored to their relativepositions when just before a satisfactory design was generated; thus topermit easy marking of the mother sheet as explained in the precedingparagraph. Otherwise stated, this feature of the new method preferablyinvolves shifting the mother sheet substantaially edgewise Y andtransverse to the projection beam over the upper end of the kaleidoscopeunit in the beam until the image of a suitable design is observed, thenclamping a part of the sheet fixedly to a part of the unit, thenstretching the sheet taut in a plane perpendicular to the optical axisof the unit and thereupon marking the mother sheet to indicate the areathereof which generated such accepted design.

It will be seen, further, that the new method as just described isfacilitated by the provision not only of bodily removable andindividually replaceable kaleidoscope units, but the permanent mountingon the upper end of each such unit of a structure shaped to provide aplurality of permanently carried devices for serving as a means in aidof marking a polygonal or other suitable indicium on fthe sheet. Suchpermanently carried devices may be variously embodied, obviously; anexample thereof being the above-described light entrance opening markedin Figs. 6 to 10. Finally, it will be seen that the new method may alsoinvolve rotating any kaleidoscope unit then in the projection beam aboutits own axis, either while holding the mother sheet fixed, or while alsoshifting the mother sheet, further to vary the designs generated;

this advantage following from the fact that the method, as preferablycarried out, in-

' volves as aforesaid the use of an individual- 4 sertable into andremovable from the projection beam.

Inasmuch as many changes could be made in the above construction7 andmany apparently widely different embodiments of my invention could bemade without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that allmatter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanyingdrawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limitingsense. A

It will also be understood that the language used in the followingclaims is intended to cover all generic and specific features of theinvention herein described and all statements of the invention which, asa matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

I claim:

1. The method of kaleidoscopic designgeneration .by projection whichinvolves providing a projection `leeana, interposing a kaleidoscope unitin said beam so that a part of the beam traverses said unit from end toend, and, with said beam focussed to present an observable image of thedesign proj ected through the unit from the mother sheet next-mentioned,providing such a mother sheet and shifting the same substantiallyedgewise transverse to the beam variously until an image of a suitabledesign is so observed, and then clamping a part of the mother sheetfixedly to a'permanently carried part of the unit, and then removing theunit and clamped mother sheet from coactiOn with the projection beam.

2. In a kaleidoscope design generating apparatus. the combination with amachlne for projecting images of designs generated by a kaleidoscopeunit from a mother sheet;

of a plurality -of interchangeable and instantaneously removablekaleidoscope units, an auxiliary clamping device, and an instantaneouslyremovable mother sheet, each unit including means for guiding the mothersheet during movement of the latter relative to the unit and forcoacting with said auxiliary device to clamp the mother sheet to theunit.

3. As a new article of manufacture, a bodily removable opticalinterponent for kaleidoscopic design-generating apparatus of theprojection type, comprising a kaleidoscope tube carrying at Vone end astructure against which a flimsy mother sheet may be held substantiallyfiat opposite and beyond the light entrance to the reflecting chamber ofthe tube, said structure being shaped to provide a plurality ofpermanently carried devices for serving as a means in aid of marking anindicium on the sheet indicative of the area on the sheet then inposition to be reflected in said chamber. j

4. As a new article of manufacture, a bodily removable opticalinterponent for kaleido-y scopic design-generating apparatus of theprojection type, comprising a kaleidoscope unit carrying at one end a`structure against which a iimsy mother sheet may be held substantiallyflat opposite and beyond the light entrance to the reflecting chamber ofthe tube, said structure being shaped to provide a plurality ofconverging edges for serving as a means in aid of marking an indicium onthe sheet indicative of the area on the sheet hen in position to berefiected in said cham- 5. The combination with a projecting apparatusfor displaying images; of means for generating the image of astripe-like design, comprising a series of mirrors arranged in tubularform of uniform cross section, the cross section of the tube defining anelongate rectangle.

6. The method of selecting the basic element of a design which consistsin placing a mother sheet bearing various characters adjacent to one endof a kaleidoscope unit, of placing a screen adjacent to the other end ofsaid unit, of illuminating said'mother sheet to kaleidoscopicallygenerate a design in the kaleidoscope unit, of focusing the image of thedesign thus generated upon said screen, of varying the position of themot-her sheet with respect to the kaleidoscope unit while observing uponthe screen the image of each design generated until a satisfactorydesign is obtained, and of indicating upon the moth-y er sheet thatportion thereof which was used as the basis of the selected design andthe identifying characteristics of the kaleidoscope unit employed.

7. The method of selecting the basic element of a design which consistsin placing a mother sheet bearing'various characters adjacent to one endof a kaleidoscope unit, of

placing a screen adjacent to the other end of said unit, of illuminatingsaid mother sheet to kaleidoscopically generate a design in thekaleidoscope unit, of focusing the image of the design thus generatedupon said screen, of varying the position of the mother sheet withrespect to the kaleidoscope unit while observing upon the screen theimage of each design generated until a satisfactory design is obtained,of securing the mother sheet in position with respect to thekaleidoscope unit, and of indicating upon the mother sheet that portionthereof which was used as the basis of the selected design andtheidentifying characteristics of the kaleidoscope unit employed.

8. The method of selecting the basic element of a design which consistsin directing a light beam through a kaleidoscope unit onto a screen, ofinterposing a translucent element bearing various characters in the beambetween the light source and the kaleidoscope unit, of focusing the beamto project the image of the design kaleidoscopically generated upon thescreen, of moving. the translucentelement while observing the image ofeach design kaleidoscopically generated upon the screen until the imageof a satisfactory design is obtained, and of indicating upon thetranslucent element the boundaries of that portion thereof which wasutilized in conjunction with the kaleidoscope unit for generating thepreferred design and the identifying characteristics of the kaleidoscopeunit employed.

9. The method of selecting the basic element of a design which consistsin directing a light beam upon a screen, of interposing a kaleidoscopeunit between the light source and the screen, of interposing atranslucent element bearing various characters or symbols in the beambetween the light source and the kaleidoscope unit, of focusing the beamto project the image of the design kaleidoscopically generated upon t-hescreen, of moving the translucent element while observing the image ofeach design thus kaleidoscopically generated upon the screen until apreferred design is obtained, of securely associating the translucentelement in position with respect to the kaleidoscope unit, and ofindicating upon the translucent element the boundaries of that portionthereof which was used in conjunction with the kaliedoscope unit forgenerating the preferred design and the identifying characteristics ofthe kaleidoscope unit employed.

10. The method of selecting the basic element of a design which consistsin directing a light beam upon a screen, of interposing a kaleidoscopeunit between the light source and the screen, of interposing atranslucent element bearing various characters or symbols in the beambetween the light source and the kaleidoscope unit, of focusing the beamto project the image of the design kaleidoscopically generated upon thescreen, of moving the translucent element. while observing the image ofeach design thus kaleidosopically generated upon the screen until apreferred design is obtained, of securely associating the translucentelement in position with respect to the kaleidoscope unit, of bodilyremoving the translucent element and kaleidoscope unit from the lightbeam, and of indicatingupon the translucent element the boundaries ofthat portion thereof which was used in conjunction wtih the kadeidoscopeunit for generating the preferred design aud the identifyingcharacteristics of the kaleidoscope unit employed.

'11. The method of reproducing a kaleidoscopically generated designwhich consists in immovably fixing the mother sheet and kaleidoscopicgenerator with respect to each other after a design so generated hasbeen selected; of marking the mother sheet while thus fixed, to indicatethe relative positions of the mother sheet and the kaleidoscopicgenerator, and to distinguish the kaleidoscopic generator used fromother generators possessing different characteristics; of disassociatingthe mother sheet from the kaleidoscopic generator; of thereafterexamining the markings made upon the mother sheet, to determine whichkaleidoscopic generator should be used therewith; of selecting theproper kaleidoscopic generator and reassociating the mother sheettherewith by means of the markings made upon the mother sheet; ofilluminating the mother sheet, and of conveying to the eye of theobserver, either directly or indirectly, the image of the design thusregenerated.

12. The method of kaleidoscopically generating a stripe-like designwhich consists in arranging a plurality of reflectors in the form of akaleidoscope unit of uniform cross section, the cross sectionconstituting the form of an elongate rectangle, of placing a mothersheet bearing various characters adjacent to one end of the unit thusformed, of placing a screen adjacent to the other end of said unit, ofilluminating said mother sheet to kaleidoscopically generate a design inthe kaleidoscope unit, and of fixing the image of the design thusgenerated by said screen.

13. The method of kaleidoscopically generating a stripe-like designwhich consists in arranging a plurality of reflectors in the form of akaleidoscope unit of uniform cross section, the cross sectionconstituting the form of an elongate rectangle, of placing a mothersheet bearing various characters adjacent to one end of the unit thusformed, and of illuminating said mother sheet to kaleidoscopicallygenerate a design in the kaleidoscopic unit.

14. In a kaleidoscope design generating apparatus, the combination withan individually portable lkaleidoscope tube having a peripheral flangeat its upper end, said flange defining a platform, and a mother sheetdetachably secured to said platform transverse the axis of thekaleidoscope tube; of a shelf Whereon the tube is removably supported,said shelf having an aperture therethrough, and a light source'positioned in spaced relation With respect to said shelf, forprojecting a light beam downwardly through the mother sheet, thekaleidoscope tube and the aperture in said shelf.

15. `In a kaleidoscope design generating apparatus, the combination withan individually portable kaleidoscope tube having a peripheral flange atits upper end, said flange defining a platform, and a mother sheetdetachably secured to said platform across the end of said tube; of ashelf Whereon the tube is removably supported, said shelf having an vaperture therethrough, a screen positioned in spaced relation withrespect to said shelf, and a light source so positioned that its lightbeam is projected through the mother sheet, the kaleidoscope tube, andthe aperture in said shelf in succession, on to the screen.

WALTER C. HADLEY.

